Battle of Craonne 1814
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 7 March 1814 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1814 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | German campaign of 1813 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | France, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 49.4411, 3.7242 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Craonne (7 March 1814) was fought between an Imperial French army under Emperor Napoleon I opposing a combined army of Imperial Russians and Prussians led by Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. The War of the Sixth Coalition engagement began when the bulk of Napoleon's army tried to drive Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov's 22,000 Russians off the Chemin des Dames plateau to the west of Craonne. After a bitter struggle, Napoleon's attacks compelled Vorontsov's force to withdraw, but French casualties exceeded Russian losses. While the battle raged, Blücher's attempt to turn Napoleon's east flank ended in failure due to poor planning.
In late February 1814, Blücher's army separated from the main Allied army of Austrian field marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, moving northwest and making a dash at Paris. Napoleon left Marshal Jacques MacDonald with one army to observe Schwarzenberg and started after Blücher with another army. Blücher evaded Napoleon's attempt to trap him and retreated north toward Laon, picking up reinforcements as he went. Russian forces under Ferdinand von Wintzingerode and a Prussian corps led by Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow would soon give Blücher a huge numerical advantage over the French.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Craonne (revision 1370109342), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- First Battle of the Aisne 1914 · 4 km
- Third Battle of the Aisne 1918 · 6 km
- Second Battle of the Aisne 1917 · 10 km
- Battle of Fismes and Fismette 1918 · 15 km
- Siege of Laon (741) 741 · 15 km
- Battle of Laon 1814 · 16 km
Other battles of the German campaign of 1813
- Battle of Leipzig 1813
- Battle of Lützen (1813) 1813
- Battle of Möckern 1813
- Battle of the Göhrde 1813
- Battle of the Katzbach 1813
- Battle of Bar-sur-Aube 1814
- Battle of Brienne 1814
- Battle of Champaubert 1814
- Battle of Château-Thierry (1814) 1814
- Battle of Fère-Champenoise 1814
All 20 battles of the German campaign of 1813 →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · 19th century battles